We each have something that belongs to us, but other people use more than we do. It is our name. Of course, we do not mind people using our name to gain our attention. May it be to start a mundane conversation, or a light notification of something scheduled for the day such as the time to eat, or perhaps something more important such as to alarm us of an incoming threat. With that said, other people using our name is something that we don’t mind. However, if someone were to use not only our name, but everything in it, that is when we do start mind.

Desperate people resort to stealing when cornered. Unable to analyze the proper route due to confusion, worry, and despair, one begins to come up with the idea of theft as the only solution to their problem. If someone has something that you don’t, you feel a little bit jealous. Now, this could be healthy by actually making it a motivation to do better, tell yourself “hey, that person was able to obtain what he desired. A path exist for anyone to obtain it, I should also not be an exemption!” and you begin to make changes, do trial and errors, and finally arrive to the conclusion you desired. Now, if one were to view jealousy as a narrow minded person, your thought would surely arrive in the opposite of motivation.

The earliest case of identity theft can traced back by the most renowned book in the world. It is the story of Jacob stealing Esau’s blessings. In Genesis 27, Isaac, the father of both Jacob and Esau, was old and turning blind, and before dying, he wished to give his blessings to his eldest son, Esau. We all know that while Esau was out to hunt some wild game for his father, Jacob pretended to be Esau to receive his father’s blessings. There are so many reasons for one person to steal the identity of another, may it be to flee from someone dangerous, or take advantage of something that only the stolen identity has access to. In Jacob’s case, he wanted the blessings that only Esau has access to, which ultimately made him steal his identity for it.

In the modern age, identity theft is still being practiced for whatever reasons they have for doing this. Some people get into a lot of trouble because of the things the thief has done in their name. They usually use the stolen person’s credit card, and take a relaxing time with their hard earned savings. When this happens, it may be too late to do anything about it, but it’s not too late to prevent them from using your identity. Immediately contact your bank, inform the situation and block your card or anything that makes the thief use your money. Followed by informing the authorities about your recent predicament, as they have protocol for this kind of situations. It may be a long time before we realize our Identity was stolen, but it’s never too late to do something about it.

The more you have the more you have to lose, if you have a lot of credit cards and financial assets it is a good idea to keep vigilant and make sure there are no anomalies in your statements and transaction records. Sometimes it is easy to overlook things, so I will help you out by telling you what actions you can take that your identity and financial information is currently secure. I will also put in a few tips to keep it that way.

1.) Monitor Your Statements

It is important that you check your credit card and bank statements as frequently as possible, ones a week at least. Carefully review each charge and withdrawal, even the smallest amount. After working with our clients who do electrical work in Columbus OH we find out that one way thieves avoid being detected is by stealing small amounts in a long period of time, take note of every transaction that you can’t explain or remember, it could just be something you forgotten or something really bad. If there is anything unusual notify your bank immediately in order for them to start investigation and lock out any access apart from yours to the account.

2.) Monitor Your Credit Report

Do this as regularly as possible, it is the best way to know that there isn’t someone taking out loans and claiming to be you.

3.) Destroy Documents

If you have sensitive documents you want to dispose of, don’t just shred it, wash it in bleach! Things that might seem harmless old documents could be a piece of information that could allow people to piece your information together and steal your identity.

4.) Credit not Debit

A lot of people say debit is better, maybe if you are talking about avoiding getting in debt, but debit cards are the worst when it comes to security. If someone is able to get your card’s information your balance is the one the gets charged. Credit cards on the other hand gives protection to their clients, if an unauthorized transaction is made they can easily reverse the charges as they are mandated by law to do.

5.) Look Out For Phishers

Let it be by phone call or through email, phishers are everywhere. They could call you regarding a concern about your account, such as unauthorized charges, or you could receive an email that seemed like it came from your bank or company who you do business with, these are a few of the ways phishers use to get your information. If you would like to avoid this, establish a good relationship with someone from your bank and credit card issuer, the moment you receive messages or calls that supposedly came from these institutions, hang up and give them a call. This way you can still address the matter while at the same time avoid phishers.

The best way to keep your personal information secure is by being more vigilant; do what seems like the most sensible thing to do. Often times we make the biggest mistakes because of our carelessness and thoughtless actions.

We live in a time where being cautious when employing people is considered a bad thing, that if you were to do anything differently from your usual routine, you are prejudiced and being offensive. Unfortunately, I cannot allow this way of thinking to stick when it comes to hiring people and letting them into your home. While I definitely want to get along with the cleaning crew or the guys from Pest Control Company Highland, my trust and friendship should be earned through time, and even then boundaries should be made.

You see, your home is your stronghold, it is where most of what is there to be known about you are found, and often where the most valuable things in your life are kept. Letting people into your home is a weak point in your personal security, trust must be built up slowly, and boundaries kept if you were to give your trust and the keys to your home to the wrong person it might harm you greatly.

Giving people chances and allowing them to be part of your life as an employee and friend is an important factor in being a good employer. But you need to be vigilant; you need to keep the temptation away from them, you need to remember that while you are in their service, there are professional lines that must not be crossed for the sake of both parties.

There are a lot of work from home jobs available online. With the right skills, you can snag the dream job that allows you to work at the convenience of your home. However, unscrupulous people are using this great platform for their illegal business. A seemingly innocent job could just be a guise in an illegal act and turn you into a Money Mule.

According to the United States Homeland Security Computer Readiness Team, “Money mules are people who are used to transport and launder stolen money or some kind of merchandise. Criminals may even recruit money mules to use stolen credit card information. Individuals being used as money mules may be willing participants; however, many money mules are not aware that they are being used to commit fraud. The individuals being used as money mules are not the only victims; the larger scheme is designed to extract money from an organization or from other people.” Recently two bail bonds companies, one company specializing in surety bonds and another in regular bail bonds came to use asking to improve their online security systems.

Let us hear Mark’s story. He was looking for a job online when he stumbled upon a job opening that doesn’t require too much. He got hired but he felt suspicious about the fund transfer he has to make. He immediately stopped dealing with the illegal employers and reported the matter to the authorities. Good thing, he did not fall into the trap. He is now working for a carpet cleaning company here in Utah and doing pretty well.

It was great that Mark was able to escape the trap. For new jobseekers, it will be helpful to know the modus operandi to protect you from falling to their traps. Here is how it works.

The company will ask for the employee’s personal information, such as their social security and bank account numbers, after the prospective employee signs in for the job.

The company or the employee will open an account that they can use for financial transaction such as fund transfers.

The employee will receive funds or merchandise from the company. The employee, in turn, will be asked by the employer to send a portion of the money or send the merchandise to someone else.

The criminal will usually use the money mule once to avoid suspicion of the authorities. However, it doesn’t stop them from recruiting new people to the scheme, and the vicious cycle continues.

The money mule will face severe consequences for being part of the scheme. The following are the potential punishments that the money mule can face.

Frozen bank accounts – the law enforcement officials may have your bank account inaccessible during investigation. This may affect your financial and credit standing.

Prosecution – you may be prosecuted and held responsible to repay the losses suffered by the victims.

Compromised personal information – The criminals may use the information derived from you in their illegal transactions.

Now that you know this scheme, it is time to learn how to protect yourself from being victimized by these criminals.

Be Wary

As the age old cliché goes, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Your instinct will tell you that there is something off in the situation. You need to listen to it. Here are the signs that the person you are dealing with is a possible scammer.

The offer promises easy earnings with less or no effort at all.

The job will require you to transfer funds or goods.

The job posting will not say about the job nor require any credentials.

The company is located outside the country and uses free webmail services instead of organization based domain.

Do your research

It is exciting to receive a job offer from a company after applying for so many job postings. Don’t just grab it. Conduct a research about the company and find reviews. It is also suspicious if a company offering online jobs doesn’t have any online presence. You may visit the Better Business Bureau website to find businesses, brands and charities that you can trust.

If there’s one thing to worry about getting a credit card then it’s none other than identity theft. This scheme of using someone’s identifying information is too alarming especially when money is involved. Getting your hard earned money taken away by someone who used your identity can be an overwhelming experience .

Pretending to be someone to fool a person and take something of theirs? Who in their right mind would want that? Identity theft is by far one of the worse things that could happen to someone in any occasion. Electrical contractors in Atlanta, GA hired us to process their records and find who has been stealing information from their servers.

Let’s review a case study of mine where I helped a company that provides pest management services who were the victims of a corporate identity theft. Every day is a busy day for a pest control company people call their hotline to ask for quotes and services they offer. Coming to terms with the customer the pest control company started doing their work from cleaning the area and killing pests and their nests one after another. The process continued and every detail that needed to be done was completed. Since pest control process usually is not just a one day task the pest control company generally provides another thorough inspection scheduled within a week, also if you need carpet cleaning services, check out this company.

They did their job and the customer was satisfied. After one week a man came to customers home claiming he was with the pest control company and asked for the invoice to be paid, the customer had no clue that he’s dealing with a scammer, thus paying ‘the invoice’. In the end the matter with the customer and the company was resolved, but the scammer was not caught. We need to remember that it’s important to be very careful of your belongings and making sure everything about you and the possessions you hold will not be made public. Yes, we tend to be very talkative when it comes to friends and families but make sure that in public nothing from your private information will be leaked through simple conversations and day to day tasks.

Tucson downtown skyline and aerial overview (including the University of Arizona) w/ Catalina Mountains at dusk.

I was on my way to the middle of the dessert, why you ask? To visit a city where you can gamble and have some fun in the dessert, it’s not Vegas though, it’s Tucson. For years my cousin has been telling me to visit him in Tucson, and for years I kept on telling him the same thing, what’s at Tucson? I am quite admittedly prejudiced when it comes to cities in the middle of the desert, aside from Las Vegas, I never really thought of any other desert city as a place to visit, at least in the country. One day I finally gave in and took up his offer, and what I found was a very pleasant surprise. The city was quite something, not as grand as Vegas but it has its charms and good points.

As I have stated above, I love Vegas, so every time Mark told me to visit him, I said ‘if I ever wanted to visit a city in the middle of the desert I would go to Vegas and gamble to my heart’s content’. Because of this the first place my cousin took me to was Casino Del Sol, which was quite a treat! The hotel was similar to the ones in Vegas, the golf course was superb, and the casino was great, though I lost some money. It was here when I realized that I should give new places a chance, I wouldn’t blindly go to places just because but I will give new places a chance if an invitation or recommendation is given.

I wanted to spend most of the time at the hotel and resort, but Mark urged me to take a look at Tucson as a whole and experience everything it has to offer. Since he was right about me finding at least one thing I’d enjoy during my trip there, I agreed to explore more of the city.

So there was a lot of places we visited the first week, one was the Pima Air and Space Museum which had a lot of planes and space crafts in exhibit. It was quite amazing as how it is, it showed me the wonders of how we develop flight and reaching outer space, but the things is, even though I did quite honestly enjoyed the tour, I was itching to get back to the casino ( I might have a tiny gambling problem).

My cousin told me I lost enough money to the casino, so he took me to somewhere a bit more exciting, the Tucson Mountain Park. I had a blast here, we went biking and horseback riding, and there was a lot to do in the park, so much so that I totally forgot about gambling. We enjoyed many thrilling and somewhat dangerous outdoor activities like mountain climbing, coming out without a scratch. Ironically enough I threw my back while doing something you’d least expect getting an injury, having a picnic.

My back pain was so bad that I wanted to retire back to the hotel and just lie down. Mark Told me that He would none of it though, he knew a great chiropractor back in the city that would fix me right up. So I reluctantly went with him, I was never really into the idea of chiropractic treatment, but I was reassured about the results with mark stating that Tucson chiropractors are the best. It was amazing really, I told the guy what happened, he nodded his head, told me to lie down, he made my back pop and boom pain was reduced significantly, to the point that I could enjoy the rest of my stay in Tucson.

Lesson of the story, never be prejudice to a place nor practice, be cautious but give them a shot if you can. You might be surprised with the results.

It’s always hard to move to a completely new place, it’s understandably hard to fit in as well, the best and only way to make the move a little easier on you is to know more about the local culture and what your new home has to offer. Who knows, you might even get a little more excited about the move. So here are nine things you need to know about Utah before you move there.

1.) The Way They Swear is Unique

It’s always important to know the language of the place you are visiting, or in this case migrating to. Even with the English language everywhere you go, be it a city, state or country, subtle to obvious differences can be noticed in how the locals speak; In the case of Utah, Their strong ties to Mormon culture has created a culture that avoids traditional swear words. Words and phrases like “Oh heck”, “Shut the front door”, and my favorite “What the frick” would make you think you are in a place populated with Ned Flanders.

2.) Stake House NOT Steak House

If you get invited to a Stake House, and the context of your conversation doesn’t seem to be in any way connected to the delicious grilled meat, you might have been invited to a congregational meeting with The Latter day Saints. Trust me; it’s kind of awkward to go to those with your special loose eating pants on.

3.) Mysterious Addictive Sauce

A staple sauce in the state of Utah, the Fry Sauce is a mixture of Ketchup and mayonnaise you can find in most if not all grocery stores. As unexciting as the sauce sounds, it’s actually pretty good and quite addicting; it’s often served with fried foods like French Fries.

4.) Great Doctors

They take care of you, yes. But aside from that the surgeons are masters in their art. In Utah mommy make over is done quite often, especially women after pregnancy choose to op-in for this cosmetic surgery, and I can see why, the results are quite stunning.

You should always research about the places you visit or will be moving too before getting there, not just to be ready to adjust but to find the good things that you’ll be able to experience.

5.) Surprisingly Not a Dry Place

Utah has been known to have very strict alcohol laws, so much so that people often mistaken the state to be a dry state. Surprisingly you can find really good beer, local breweries create interesting and really good beer, and some strong ones at that.

6.) Lime-jello

They love the green jelly, more than most of America in fact! I heard that they eat twice as much of the stuff than other states.

7.) The License Plates Weren’t Lying, they do Have the Best Snow

Scientifically proven to have the perfect formulation for optimum skiing and snowboarding, Utah is probably the best place to have that Ski trip you’ve been planning all these years.

Every year, Utah has its share of Hollywood glamour; film-makers come to show their, often all-star cast, films.

9.) Best Place to Ski

Yes, I know I already said that they have the best snow. But apparently they have, arguably, the best ski resort. Park City is a breath taking place and what skiing and snowboarding enthusiast would consider as paradise.

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